People & Teams Awards
2026 Winners
Young Professional Award
The young professional award shines a spotlight on the rising stars of decarbonisation. The award winner can be a young employee or a recent joiner under the age of 35. Organisations nominated an individual who has consistently made an outstanding contribution to their team and the wider industry.
The Winners:
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Dr Fanran Meng, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Sustainable Chemical Engineering, The University of Sheffield
Dr Meng’s work on low carbon-fuels, circular plastics and EV battery manufacturing is creating global scale impact through the whole life-cycle approach he adopts. The judges felt that the level of funding attained was hugely impressive as was the range of industrial partners who are being informed by the work.
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Dr Haopeng Wang, Lecturer in Structural Engineering Materials (T&R), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Liverpool
Dr Wang has achieved some very significant advances in sustainable pavement engineering with a commitment to circularity and sustainable materials adoption. The judges were impressed by the level of both individual excellence and teamwork displayed at this stage in his career and noted the strong partnership working with Liverpool City Council and internationally in China – including real work demonstrations.
Highly commended:
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Lily Ramsey, Senior Transport Strategy Officer, Transport for Greater Manchester
The judges recommend a highly commended status for Lily Ramsey for her work in driving forward changes to best practice in how walking, cycling and public transport schemes are delivered across Greater Manchester – her testimonials showed a huge professional respect for her work from a range of senior people in the field from across a wide range of disciplines.
Decarbonisation Hero Award
Transport Decarb Hero of the year was open to all councils and private sector organisations, plus those that work in academia, third sector and elsewhere. The award welcomed nominees who have consistently made an outstanding contribution to transport decarbonisation.
The Winner:
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Gossica Anichebe, Policy and Projects Manager,
London Borough of Hackney
The judges would like to highlight her commitment to driving down emissions through the multi-headed parking strategy which she has led. However, it is also clear that her commitment to diversity and inclusion both within the organisation and outside has enabled her to unlock delivery. The testimonials all spoke incredibly highly of her respect, drive, inclusivity and ability to bring people together.
Highly commended:
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Constant McColl, Principal Transport Planner, Hackney Council
Highly commended for his work leading the development of an amazing kerbside strategy, including widespread cycle hanger adoption and EV charging. The breadth of work is impressive and this is reflected in a broad and deep recognition of the contributions from a range of colleagues
Best Transport Decarbonisation Team
The Best Transport Decarbonisation Team / Organisation Award recognises the excellent work of any local authorities, third sector or private sector organisations in their endeavours to reduce transport related carbon.
The Winner:
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Southern Renewals Enterprise -
setting a new standard for the rail renewals sector
The judges were highly impressed with how an integrated team from different organisations came together to put Carbon Reduction front and centre of a renewals scheme that historically has had great difficulty to adopt decarbonisation. Acting as a pilot and setting a standard for the rest of the Rail industry to follow, the impact nationally could be transformational. Well done.
Best Leadership in Local Government Award
This special award recognises the unwavering determination of local authority leaders who are leading the way in decarbonising transport. The award is open to nominees who have consistently made an outstanding contribution to transport decarbonisation, and who provide leadership and courage to make positive change in their role.
The Winner:
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Councillor Clyde Loakes MBE, Deputy Leader & Climate and Air Quality Portfolio Holder, Air Quality
London Borough of Waltham Forest
Councillor Loakes' leadership in sustainable transport infrastructure and behaviour change initiatives has resulted in a 25% decrease in local transport-based emissions. He has overseen the construction of cycle routes, pedestrianisation of high streets, and the implementation of EV charging.
Category Award 2026 Winners
Best Public Transport Decarbonisation Award
The Best Public Transport Decarbonisation Award is designed for pioneering organisations working across bus and rail services.
The award recognises advances in electric and alternative fuels.
The Winner:
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Oxford’s Electric Bus Transformation -
Oxfordshire Bus Enhanced Partnership
The Oxford Electric Bus Transformation was an excellent example of building on government funding to deliver a wide range of benefits. By pooling funding from a range of different schemes, the council added to the 159 electric buses with other initiatives including electric charging infrastructure, the world’s first fully electric City Sightseeing fleet, congestion charging, park and ride and Legal minimum vehicle emission standards for buses across the whole of the county.
Evaluation showed nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations reduced by up to24% and peak traffic noise in central Oxford reduced by up to 5.1 dB, improving quality of life for residents and commuters.
Best Highways Decarbonisation Award
This award celebrates the achievements across the highways industry that clearly demonstrate the carbon benefits and how they support the sector achieve zero carbon in local and national highways. This award recognises achievements across the entire highways sector, including road surfacing, lighting and other highways assets.
The Winner:
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Decarbonising StreetLighting - Right Light Right Place Right Time - East Riding of Yorkshire Council
This project delivered 40% reductions in carbon and lifecycle costs through multidisciplinary collaboration. They replaced traditional street lighting with LED and smart adaptive controls, providing a scalable and transferable blueprint.
Best Local Transport Project Decarbonisation Award
The Best Local Transport Project will be awarded to a council that has delivered the most groundbreaking local transport project that has carbon reduction embedded in its core. Nominees submitted entries across the wide range of local transport projects including public transport, active travel, placemaking and shared transport and any other projects that can demonstrate measurable and sustainable benefits to the community and the authority.
The Winner:
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Liverpool Live Lab Programme
The judges felt this was a strong submission on reducing the impact of highways maintenance, involving a wide range of partners. The submission set out clear data on carbon impact and was demonstrably transferrable to other locations.
Best Freight & Logistics Decarbonisation Award
The freight & logistic award is designed for councils and operators who are innovating in sustainable freight, first and last mile deliveries. Decarbonising freight in towns and cities is a huge challenge for authorities and this special award recognises the achievements being made and provide leadership to other authorities. The judges assessed entries from councils that are using new methods to support freight consolidation, zero emission deliveries and those that are providing clean freight systems.
The Winner:
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Waterloo Freight Hub Trial - Cross River Partnership
The Waterloo Freight Hub Trial takes home the win for showcasing a truly innovative and highly transferable approach to easing freight pressures in a busy urban centre—demonstrating real‑world delivery, strong collaboration, and the kind of scalable impact that can transform logistics in our cities.
Best Active & Shared Mobility Decarbonisation Award
The Best Active Travel and Shared Mobility Decarb award rewards a council who has delivered a major active travel projects that has contributed to a reduction in private vehicles miles driven, influences behaviour change and that can demonstrate clear carbon benefit to the local community and council. The award was also open to those that provide shared micromobility services (bikes, e-bikes and scooters) as well as those working in car clubs, where there has been collaborative working with a council client, and where carbon savings have been prioritised in scheme design and delivery.
The Winner:
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Voi In Cambridge - Voi Technology
The first thing that jumped out about this remarkable project was the sheer scale of the achievement, 15 million miles ridden replacing 624,000 car trips and reducing carbon by 265 tonnes. On closer inspection it was the 77% reduction in emissions from the e-scooter models which they had got down to 29g CO2e /km that really made the decarbonisation case. This brings e-scooters much closer to the approximately 5g CO2e /km of bicycles and further away from the 271g CO2e /km of the average car. This means the green credentials of e-scooters are finally being manifested and so the results are even more impressive.
Best Behaviour Change & Public Engagement Award
The Best Behaviour Change & Public Engagement award recognises the achievements by a council and / or provider in driving a positive behaviour change campaign that has made significant impacts on reducing carbon. Nominees also entered public engagement initiatives that have also achieved similar such as car free days, reducing work commute carbon and promotion of ridesharing, influencing residents to use sustainable modes, car scrappage schemes and lots more.
The Winner:
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Manchester City of Cycling - Manchester City Council
Manchester City of Cycling brought partners and communities together through inclusive events, free bike repairs, grassroots grants, to create safer, healthier streets and embed cycling as a normal, accessible choice. A fantastic array of initiatives, driven by multiple organisations, which almost doubled daily trips by bike, in just five years. Well done Manchester!
Best Data & Digital Innovation for Decarbonisation Award
The Best Data & Digital Innovation for transport decarbonisation award recognises new innovations in technology, data and digital services and application. The award recognises achievements and innovations in reducing carbon with the application of data and technology – this includes new EV charging solutions, route optimisation for public transport services, technology innovation in shared micromobility, advances in school transport, SEND transport and other which are helping to drive down carbon. This award also recognises innovative research and development projects and not just those that are being currently used in real world environments.
The finalists:
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Data-Led Decarbonisation: AI Behavioural Analytics, Digital Ecological Monitoring and Passive Visibility Systems for Low-Carbon Highway - East Riding of Yorkshire Council
The judges considered this to be a comprehensive and inspiring entry, reflective of eminently transferable innovation - innovation that seeks to ensure that carbon saving measures targeted at street lighting do not come at the expense of road safety or wildlife.
Best Innovation in Transport Decarbonisation Award
This award recognises ground-breaking innovations (non-data / non-digital) in the transport decarbonisation space - including in urban planning, design, transport-oriented development, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), integrated public transport networks, mobility hubs, workplace parking levies, road pricing, congestion charging, and other systemic or infrastructure innovations.
The Winner:
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Greater Manchester's Streets for All Design Guide - Transport for Greater Manchester
The judges were particularly impressed by the vision-led and people-centred approach taken by Greater Manchester Streets for All Design Guide and also by its scalability and transferability.
Best Decarbonising Leisure Travel Award
The Best Decarbonising Leisure Travel Award category was awarded to the organisation that has excelled in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from tourism and recreation activities. Leisure is the single most common purpose for a car trip in England, representing 31% of trips in 2023.
This award category welcomed submissions from organisations that are moving towards lower-carbon transport options like prioritising walking, cycling, wheeling, and public transport. Submissions will also be most welcome from organisations that are promoting micro-mobility services— scooters and e-bikes, for example— plus the use of cargo bikes and other low-carbon transport modes.
The Winner:
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Car-free days out: making the journey part of the adventure -
Good Journey
Good Journey's Car-free days out: making the journey part of the adventure is a worthy winner for the Leisure Travel Decarbonising Transport Award. The judges recognised that Good Journey have pretty much invented the arguments that mean that national organisations, whole counties and popular rural attractions realise the benefits and invest in opportunities for people to arrive without a car - and be clear that this leads to a better day out. They have helped to set new standards and write best practice on low carbon rural leisure travel for the UK.
Best EV Project Award
The Best EV Project Award recognises a local authority, or organisation that has worked with an authority, to impliment a hugely successful EV charging scheme that can clearly evidence measurable and sustainable carbon saving benefits.
The Winner:
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London Borough of Hackney's EV charge point programme
The judges were impressed by the large scale and transferability of this award-winning project, with 1,100 of a planned 2,500 public charge points installed in Hackney by the end of 2025, giving Hackney among the densest concentration of public EV charge points in the UK and ensuring EV users in Hackney have equitable, widespread access to those chargers.
The bid also highlighted a number of interesting innovations associated with their procurement & installation processes, including their funding model, their consideration of surplus local low-carbon electricity, reductions in the construction carbon of the charging infrastructure, integration with the electrification of local car clubs and their accessible mapping of the roll-out of their EV charging network.
